1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed matter examination apparatus, a printed matter examination method, and a printed matter examination system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional variable data printing (VDP) for successively printing pages whose content may be changed from one page to the next, particularly, it is required that printed matter be examined accurately and abnormalities be notified as promptly as possible in order to stop printing, thereby preventing toner or ink being wasted and paper being wasted. For this reason, examination apparatuses have been proposed that examine whether a necessary content is correctly printed on a printed matter printed by a printing apparatus.
For example, a technology is known in which image data of a printed matter, which is data that is an original to be printed, is used as reference data, image data obtained by reading a printed matter using a reading sensor is used as examination data, and the reference data and the examination data are compared with each other in order to examine the printing state. A technology is also well known already in which examination data is recognized by optical character recognition (OCR) and converted into character codes, and the character codes are compared with digital data that is the original of the reference data in order to examine the printed content.
Specifically, a printed matter is read by a bitmap-matching scanner, and the read data is collated with bitmap data, which is used for printing in a bitmap examination unit, per bitmap in order to examine the printing quality. In the examination method, an OCR scanner reads a character area of a printed matter and a character examination unit recognizes characters and examines the printed content. A picture examination scanner reads a picture area of the printed matter and a picture examination unit recognizes a picture and examines the content. In addition, a barcode reader scanner reads a barcode on the printed matter and a barcode examination unit examines the barcode data. Such printed matter examination apparatuses have been disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-96872).
Image generating apparatuses have been also proposed that promptly identify broken, lightly-printed, or slurred portions in liner portions of an image, which may be the main cause of erroneous recognition in character recognition, or promptly identify the occurrence of image noise in a writing system, and compare the characters separated from frame lines with a pre-stored character portion correct pattern in order to remove the cause of erroneous recognition beforehand (see Japanese Patent No. 2923004).
Conventional examination devices for conventional variable data printing, however, merely perform an examination by comparing a printed matter having been printed with reference data. Specifically, the content of a printed matter may contain an abnormality, such as incorrect conversion of characters caused during a process of converting digital data into image data for printing, or contain noises caused while the printed matter is printed. Nonetheless, because an examination is performed after a printed matter is output, an abnormality in an RIP (raster image processor) occurring in an earlier printing step cannot be examined during an earlier stage.
As described above, sending erroneous image data processed by the RIP to a printing apparatus results in a waste of toner or ink and a waste of paper and furthermore requires reprinting of erroneous pages and replacement operations, which leads to a problem of lowering the operation efficiency and damaging the environment.
The present invention is made to solve the above problems. Objectives of the present invention are to provide a printed matter examination apparatus that can perform a misprinting examination before printing, a printed matter examination method, and a printed matter examination system.